PASSAGES﻿: Flashbacks with Ping

Do you remember your first bike? Where was the first place you learned to ride? For me, it was a field in front of my house in Montana and I’ll never forget it. My dad marked out a simple little course and I would spend hours buzzing around it on my Yamaha PW50. Those memories are some of the best of my childhood and I wanted to share that same feeling with my kids. I took my two daughters and my two nephews out riding and spent the day teaching them how to start and stop, shift, and safely ride a motorcycle. The smiles were obvious as each of them got the hang of it and started to get more comfortable.

At one point I was riding beside my youngest daughter, Emma, and I was laughing under my helmet as I watched her work on techniques I had shown her. She loves to go fast so every time she would get to the front straight away she would tuck her little head down and twist the throttle on her CRF110. It was one of those moments where you feel like you are doing exactly what you should be doing with your family; sharing passions and hobbies.

I love that my whole family enjoys riding dirt bikes because it is something I’ve been passionate about my whole life. And if we want this sport to thrive, we need to do everything we can to get kids out of the house, off their electronics and outside riding. I know my girls are hooked and I can’t wait to get them riding again.